Grace

In a Reader’s Digest interview, Muhammad Ali states, “One day we’re all going to die, and God is going to judge us, our good deeds and our bad deeds. If the bad outweighs the good, you go to hell. If the good outweighs the bad, you go to heaven.” That was the philosophy he lived by. At the end of each day Ali would ask himself, “If God were to judge me based on just what I did today, would I go to heaven or hell?” To live one’s whole life with the uncertainty of never knowing whether one’s final destiny is that of heaven or hell is not only sad, it is unnecessary. It is tragic to live one’s life without the assurance that faith in Jesus Christ can bring. For those who place their trust in Him, 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 brings a word of confident assurance.

The doctrine of God’s grace is expounded at length in such New Testament epistles as Romans, Galatians, and Ephesians. Jesus never used the word grace in the New Testament, but He demonstrated it and His sacrifice secured it.

GRACE = God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense!

But who would expect to find a portrait of grace shining forth from the pages of 2 Samuel 9? Nothing illustrates grace better than the story of David and Mephibosheth.